Question How important would a heatsink be for a tightly-packed Samsung 980 PRO NVME?

[Cyber_Akuma]

I am about to upgrade my 10700K system to a 11700K, main reason to have PCIe 4.0 support since I will likely be using this system for many years. With the motherboard I have (Gigabyte Z490 AORUS PRO AX) doing this will also enable a currently disabled M.2 port that will operate at 4.0 speeds, when all the current ports operate at 3.0.

Since I already have a Samsung 980 PRO that is 4.0 capable, I figured I might as well move that to the 4.0 port. Issue is, that while the other two 3.0 ports have heatsinks in the form of being part of the motherboard's shielding, the 4.0 port does not. And while I know not all NBVEs need a heatsink, the issue is that if I put it in the 4.0 port it's going to be jammed in between a NH-D15 to the one side/above it, a large GPU right next to it, and a soundcard directly on top of it.

Would I need a heatsink if it has so many components, two of which would be generating heat, so close to it? If so, are there any good heatsinks that are low profile? I don't have the soundcard in yet, so I am not sure how much clearance if any I would even have between the NVME and the bottom of the card for a heatsink in the first place. Or would it still be fine without a heatsink?

 

[Lafong]

Suppose you build it without a heatsink and experiment.

How annoyed would you be to then have to add a heatsink later?

I'd guess it's a tradeoff......

Either you are willing to experiment and make a judgement THEN.

Or you'd rather speculate and make a judgement NOW.

Overlay all of that with your general anxiety level, particularly about drive temps.

Considering all the unknown variables including ambient temp, I don't see you can make much of an informed choice.

Lotsa people will tell you to use a heatsink right now of course.

 

[Cyber_Akuma]

Suppose you build it without a heatsink and experiment.

How annoyed would you be to then have to add a heatsink later?

My main worry is that I would not have enough clearance from the heatsink to put it in, especially with a heatsink, after I put the cooler back on. It's also a massive hassle to remove my GPU (and then soundcard) to get access to that port. I basically have to take half the system apart to get to that port. So since I am already doing that to upgrade the CPU, I figured might as well get this taken care of too.

 

[Lafong]

I suppose its better to find out about the clearance issue sooner rather than later. Rather than tear it all down after its all up and running without a heatsink.

The heatsink may help less than you hoped for even if it fits, considering the cramped quarters.

Then you'd have to speculate about whether the pre heatsink temps are of any practical consequence compared to post heatsink temps.